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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849247">Varian’s Alchemic Adventure Volume 1</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faynevermore/pseuds/Faynevermore'>Faynevermore</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Varian's Alchemic Adventure [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Varian and the Seven Kingdoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Betrayal, F/F, F/M, Family, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kaitlyn Ritter &amp; Anna Lencioni, King Frederic of Corona Being an Asshole (Disney), M/M, Oblivious Rapunzel (Disney), Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Sad Varian (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:22:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29849247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faynevermore/pseuds/Faynevermore</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The reign of Zan Tiri has come to an end and It's Happily Ever After <br/>Varian as the new Royal Engineer has finally achieved his dreams of using his scientific knowledge to help his kingdom.<br/>Unfortunately things might not be going exactly as he planned.<br/>However Varian makes a vast discovery that will change his life forever<br/> Varian will embark on a journey filled with friendship, mystery, lost history, hidden secrets, betrayals, myths, adventure, magic, and science.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cyrus &amp; Donella (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Cyrus &amp; Hugo (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Donella &amp; Hugo (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Donella &amp; Ulla (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Donella &amp; Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Hugo &amp; Nuru &amp; Varian &amp; Yong (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms), Quirin &amp; Ulla (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms) &amp; Varian, Quirin &amp; Varian (Disney), Rapunzel &amp; Varian (Disney), Team awsome, Ulla &amp; Varian (Disney: Varian and the Seven Kingdoms)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Varian's Alchemic Adventure [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2194491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Ready As I'll Ever Be Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>So here is my attempt at Kaitlyn Ritter &amp; Anna Lencioni Seven Kingdoms. So when I first planning this story the only information I was aware of was the character sheets and the notes explaining the science behind each trial. However after months of planning each season in my story, I watched  <br/>Isaac Carlson interveiw with Kaitlyn Ritter in January and I discovered that apparently there was this whole script I was not aware of and eventually I found it on Pinterest, now the first thing I thought was what am I going to do now, I planned this whole story and I was wondering if I had to re-plan the whole thing again. but then I decide that this was probably for the best. I figured that since others have sticked much closer to the original script maybe it was a good thing that mine was different.<br/>Unfortunately it is also for this reason why Varigo will not be canon ( I'm sorry since I was not aware of the original script I assumed Varigo was a fan ship like Cassunzel or Cassarian, I did not know at the time they were going to be canon, I have nothing against Varigo I just don't have an opinion on it please forgive me for my Ignorance) so here is my story filled with Canon, Original Ideas, and things I wish were in the original show.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                                                                 </p><p>                                                                                   Episode 1 Ready As I’ll Ever Be Part 1</p><p> </p><p>"Once upon a time there was a nerdy boy named, Varian. With his huge brain, he would experiment with Alchemy and machinery. Unfortunately, many of his experiments would fail, usually leading to explosions, a lot. Many of these failings lead to him being feared and treated as an outcast. Worst of all, however, these constant failures led to his own father losing trust in him".</p><p>"Regardless of these shortcomings the Alchemist never gave up hope that one day he would make his father and village proud. That day soon came in the form of Princess Repunzel. When the Princess was born, she had acquired magic from the Sundrop, the counterpart of an ancient power called the Moonstone. Repunzel wanted to learn more about her hair, so she came to Varian for help".</p><p>"Varian of course jumped at the chance to show off his talents and contribute in some way to his kingdom. Unfortunately, Varian could not discover the secret behind Rapunzel’s magic hair; And what's worse there was a string of deadly rocks plaguing the kingdom and destroying everything in its path. The Princess made a promise to the boy that they would find a way to stop these rocks together".</p><p>"This Promise was not to last. On one fateful day during a deadly blizzard, Varian’s father became encased in amber created by the rocks. Varian rushed in the blizzard to beg the Princess for help. but she could not do anything about the amber".</p><p>"Angry and bitter about this betrayal, the Alchemist vowed vengeance on the royal family and the entire kingdom of Corona. To lure the Princess to him Varian kidnapped her mother the Queen. Varian theorized that Rapunzel’s hair and the rocks were connected and that she was the only one who could free his father".</p><p>"To fight back the Princess rallied everyone in the kingdom against Varian. The plan was to trick Varian with a decoy, while she and the King sneak up from behind using secret tunnels under Varian’s house. The plan failed, as Varian already expected that was something the Princess would come up with. With the Princess in his clutches, Varian forced her to use her power to free his father. Unfortunately, the power from her hair could not break the Amber".</p><p>"Devastated that there was no way to free his father now, Varian decided to attack the royal family, as punishment for what they did to his father. Using three thousand dangerous and awesomely powerful robots he built, Varian attacked-"</p><p> “Um <em>Excuse</em> me”.</p><p>Angry immediately stopped in the middle of her epic tale to notice a young boy raising his hand, it was Calvin, or as many would know him as the bane of one’s existence.</p><p>“yes, <em>Calvin</em>”. Angry replied with an extremely irritated groan.</p><p>“I heard from my father that the Alchemist only built three hundred of those things, and they were automatons, not robots” Calvin informed with an all-knowing smirk.</p><p>“what do you think automatons are, moron.”</p><p>“Also, I thought Varian created the Amber that trapped his father not the rocks,” asked one dark-skinned girl named Marigold.</p><p>“My brother says… that science… does not exist…… and …. Varian…. Is… a… wizard… and Alchemy…. is actually………… Magic” a boy named Travis explained taking a breath with each remark.</p><p>      Many questions began to be raised and Angry was tired of it.</p><p> “ENOUGH,” Angry said slamming her foot. “Ok, there was <em>three hundred</em> instead of <em>three thousand</em>, Varian created the solution, and Travis your brother is literally a doofus why do you even talk to him”.</p><p>    This was not the first time other kids have poked holes in Angry’s stories; she had a tendency to exaggerate or forget certain details every time she would begin to tell a tale.</p><p>Catalina, Angry’s sister, was behind her the entire time watching the scene unfold. She and Angry were leading the group of children from Crona through one of the many secret tunnels that laid hidden under the kingdom.  </p><p>It had been five months since Catalina and Angry began to settle in Corona. Before coming here, they were young pickpocketers, roaming the streets and stealing anything they could find.  </p><p>   After meeting the Princess’s fiancé Eugene, who was a former thief like them, they learned the life of a criminal was not a life worth living.</p><p>    Eventually, the two girls would find a home with Eugene’s best friend Lance who would try to provide them a better home.</p><p>“Now that we have all of our questions answered can we get back to the story” Catalina announced to calm things down so her sister could continue?</p><p>Many of the children simply nodded, as they did want to risk making Angry’s wrath any longer.</p><p>Seeing that she now had everyone’s full attention, Angry continued with her tale.</p><p>“Devastated that there was no way to free his father now, Varian decided to attack the royal family, as punishment for what they did to his father. Using three thousand dangerous and awesomely powerful robots he built, Varian attacked the citizens of Corona as he now believed he had nothing left to lose”.</p><p>   “To save her people, Rapunzel summoned the power of the black rocks and used them to stop Varian. Depowered and defeated the Alchemist was sent to the dungeons, while the Princess went on a long and dangerous journey to discover the secret behind the rocks”.</p><p>  “While in prison the Alchemist allied himself with a terrorist group called the Saporians. Together they were able to take over the entire kingdom by using a memory-erasing spell on the king and queen".</p><p>  "When the Princess finally returned to her kingdom, she was shocked to see what had become of it. Repunzel tried to fight back against the Saporians but was eventually captured. The Princess pleaded with the Alchemist to stop this and help her people. The Alchemist hesitated as he wanted to use the wand's power to make everyone forget about the past deeds, he had done".</p><p>"After Learning of the Saporian’s plan to destroy the kingdom instead, however, Varian agreed to help. Fighting side by side with the princess, Varian managed to help stop the Saporians, and save the kingdom from being destroyed".</p><p>"As for Varian father Quirin, you may ask? Well on her trip the princess learned a deadly decaying spell from her magic hair, that managed to break the Amber and free Varian’s father from his prison".</p><p>  "From that day on the Alchemist would do whatever he could to make amends with Corona. He would go on to translate scrolls, help the princess escape from a magic shell necklace, and help in the Battle against evil sorcerers like Zan Tiri. In response to his loyal service to the crown, the royal family appointed Varian as the first and youngest Royal Engineer in Corona".</p><p> </p><p> When finished with her story Angry and the other children came up to a ladder leading up to a door right above them. Angry preceded to take the lantern from her sister and climb up the ladder. Once she got to the top, she began to unlatch the door. Unfortunately, she had to hold the lantern’s handle in her mouth as opening the door required both hands.</p><p>Once the latches were undone Angry used all her might to push open the door, she then looked back and gave the other kids a cocky smile, as her way of gesturing to follow her up. Once everyone finished climbing up, they were all greeted to a pit black room, with the lantern as their only light.</p><p>Once she made sure everyone was in the room, Angry cleared her voice and spoke again.</p><p>“And so, to end our tour we have taken you all to the place where it all started”. Angry gestured to Catalina, as they began to light the lanterns hanging above them.</p><p>it became much clearer to see the contents of the room. The walls were coved with dark brown bricks, although in some areas without light they almost appeared to be a dark blue.</p><p>The darkness began to fade from the light's gentle glow and things around the room became easier to see. The tables seemed to have vanished as they were completely covered in a mess of papers. flasks of many different sizes and colors were resting on a table with gas burners under each one. Each flask was connected by black rubber tubes that coiled to the point that they became tangled.</p><p>At one corner of the room, there were metal machines of different sizes and made of different metals. Some were incomplete from either not being finished; and some, unfortunately, were burned and fried from previous explosions.</p><p>On another side of the room, there was a small window, decorated all around it with tan pieces of paper that had drawing of possible inventions or messy scribbles of notes. The table under the window had a freshly opened book leaning on a wooden stand. The table also had quite a selection of magnifying glasses attached to different shaped stands. This table had flasks as well but most of them were filled to the brim with multiple colored foams.</p><p>Many of the children filled the room with the sound of awes, excited to see the many wonders that laid before them. Without even a single sign of permission, the children began getting closer to each table, to get a better look at everything that the lab had to offer.</p><p>“Here is the invention Varian used when he was trying to analyze the Princess’s magic hair” Catalina announced as she gestured to an operating table with an array of metal hands and tools sticking out of it.</p><p>“And here is where the letter Varian’s father wrote to him, melted away, never to be seen again” Angry stated, her voice filled with mystery as she was gesturing to a large piece of amber embedded on top of the stone floor.</p><p>  While some groups of children were gathered around one of the sisters listening to their tales, some decided to go off on their own and explore the tables and bookshelves.</p><p>    Some kids decided to read some of the books, of course, they tossed aside anything with math and science equations in them and went straight for the Flynn Rider books.</p><p>   Travis, unfortunately, had a puff of pink smoke exploded on his face, after opening a wooden box. While it was unpleasant for him, it brought about much amusement to the other children.</p><p>  The sisters introduced the children to colorful potions, compounds, and serums. As well as different machines, inventions, and contraptions of all shapes and sizes.</p><p>Of course, not everyone was taken by all the shiny equipment that laid before them. One child was not at all presented by the Alchemist work.</p><p>Calvin throughout the visit simply strolled down each section. His eyebrow raised up high, his lips pursed in an uninterested position, head held high, and his hand behind his back.</p><p> He did not touch anything or even tried to listen to the sister’s stories. All he did was scan the room with judgment in his eyes.</p><p>“This is all <em>impressive</em> I suppose” Calvin professed “But don’t you find this all <em>inappropriate</em>.”</p><p>Angry stopped in the middle of her lecture to give the boy a menacing look “What's that supposed to mean.”</p><p>“I just think we should not give everyone the wrong idea, of how things are supposed to work around here” Calvin insinuated.</p><p>    Angry and Catalina glared at Calvin, their eyes were filled with wild emotions, as they made their way towards him. The other children stopped what they were doing, giving the three their full attention, knowing perfectly well a conflict was about to brew.</p><p>“What do you mean by that” Catalina questioned, her anger was not as see-through as her sister's, but she still showed displeasure to whatever Calvin was trying to imply.</p><p>Calvin raised an eyebrow and acknowledged the girls with disinterest. Once he realized that now he had an audience from the rest of the children, he gave a cocky smirked and continued with his statement.</p><p>“you girls go around talking about this controversial figure as if he is some kind, of hero. We all know he is nothing but a traitor. He insulted and told lies about our benevolent King Frederick, he kidnapped and threatened the life of our unselfish Queen Arianna, and to make matters worse he took advantage of the Princess’s mercy on him and tricked her into ending his jail sentence, and found a way to weasel himself a position of power, even though we all know he should be back in jail rotting away like the rest of the scum that dares to go against the crown” Calvin explained as he sneered at the girls   </p><p>Angry tightened her fists to the point you could slight cracks from her knuckles “HE IS A HERO, he saved everyone months ago from the red rocks.”</p><p>Calvin set his sights on the girls, disgustingly happy at seeing the girls riled with emotions and he decided to see how much farther he could take it “With a solution, he made to murder his father with” he jeered.</p><p>Catalina tensed up as the word <strong>“Murder”</strong> oozed out of the boy’s hateful mouth “that’s not true and you know it.”</p><p> Catalina tried her hardest not to scream or cry, holding back the tears that were forming. The last thing she wanted was a fight to break out in Varian’s lab, but it truly hurt her heart to hear such awful statements be made about her friend.</p><p>Angry’s eyes went soft, as she stepped towards her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder trying to counsel her. It did not help that Calvin snorted at her like it was nothing more than an innocent statement.</p><p> Calvin was overly impressed how each statement was cutting the girls deeply, and maybe he could cut deeper. “Well, it only makes sense you two would defend him” Calvin made a jester to the girls before pressing on” after all you outlaws have to stick together.”</p><p>A sick idea began to brew in Calvin’s head as he continued “well in any case I suppose it’s not entirely your fault” he moved his hand around in a mocking movement gesturing to the two girls “after all there’s no way you can understand the fundamentals of how society works since the only source of parental guidance you have is a bumbling delinquent.”</p><p>   All the Children glanced at each other with nervousness and fear, as they slowly began to step away from the three, with Travis doing the sign of the cross. There was no helping Calvin now, if there was one thing you never do, you never make fun of the girls’ father, that was a line no one lived long enough to cross.  </p><p>Angry stride over to Calvin until she was close to his face. Daggers were forming in her eyes making it <strong><em>very</em></strong>, clear to Calvin that if he did not listen to her demands, he was never going to hit puberty.</p><p>Leaning a little closer, Angry grabbed his shirt collar and hissed through her teeth “Ok <strong><em>Calvin</em></strong>, I’m going to give you three seconds to apologize, or else I will put my fist through your head.”</p><p>Calvin glance away, unfazed by Angry’ s looming threat, but then he looked back at her, a demonic look in his eyes “Ok, I’m sorry, that the only people to see any value in you two is a bunch of low-life criminals.”  </p><p>  Before anyone could react both girls lunged at the boy in a deep-seated rage as they pounded their fists on top of his face. Many of the children gathered around to watch the brawl between the three, while some on the other hand hid behind tables and chairs not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. All three were relentless not giving up until they knew their opponent was done for good.</p><p>At some point during the fight, Calvin managed to get up and swing his arms towards the girls, with them either ducking or hitting back. Angry managed to take a swipe at Calvin pushing him against the edge of the table. Angry dash towards him ready for another strike, but then he lifts himself onto the table and rammed his foot into her stomach.</p><p>Angry was plunged into a box full of broken equipment, with one of the broken beakers cutting her cheek. Seeing her sister hurt sent Catalina into a moment of rage, she tackled him onto the floor with her hitting her head in the process.</p><p>  Each one rolled on top of the other trying to fight the other off. Eventually, Calvin managed to adjust one of his knees on top of Catalina’s stomach to keep her from moving and used one of his hands to hold her arms down. He lifted his other hand, molded into a fish, and was prepared to give her another bruise on her cheeks.</p><p>Suddenly everyone jumped when they heard the door slam open and a loud voice could be heard echoing through the room. “WHAT’S GOING ON IN HERE”</p><p>Everyone turned to see the owner of the voice that managed to calm the room. What stood was a young teen with a blue stripe that stuck out against his midnight black hair. He had peach skin that was sprinkled with freckles. His eyes were a baby blue filled caution, and bags that melted down his face.</p><p>    He was wearing a blue robe, a few sewn patches scattered on it. Goggles with golden rims were placed snugged on his head, and nothing was seen on his feet. On his shoulders was a fluffy and round raccoon, who was yawning and barely keeping his eyes open.</p><p>The teen looked around the room, seeing the faces of all the children. It took him a minute, but it finally clicked, and he figured out what was going on.</p><p><em>Not again </em>he thought to himself, as he felt his left eye twitching a little bit. He rubbed his forehead and <strong>tried, very, hard</strong>, to take a calming breath.</p><p>“I beg of you, if you’re going to break into my house the least you can do is send me a letter,” Varian said rubbing his temples.</p><p>All the children staring at him had an assortment of different emotions plastered on their faces. Some regarded him with awe and wonderment, seeing him as the boy who could build such amazing contractions when he was no older than them. Some looked at him with a mild glint of judgment and cation, because despite working for the crown, they were told by their parents to be wary of him, as he was someone who could be dangerous if not watched closely.  </p><p>The girls regarded the teen in the blue rob with a sheepish grin and a casual response “Hey Varian.”</p><p>It took Calvin some time, having to eye the stranger up and down a few times. When he finally came to recognize the owner of the voice, his eyes became full of caution, knowing perfectly well the person behind the voice would not be pleased with what he was doing to their friend.   </p><p>Quickly the boy released Catalina and began brushing himself off as if nothing had happened. The boy then scurried to the back of the room, to hide amongst the crowd of children.</p><p>Angry was already standing, having been helped by Marigold. She made her way to her sister, helped her get to her feet, and began brushing the dust off her.</p><p>After regarding Calvin with a bitter look, Varian made his way over to the girls, checking them over, making sure that they were alright. Catalina gave him a reassuring nod letting him know, despite a few bruises, she was fine. Angry on the other hand merely shrugged him off “I’m fine it’s not a big deal V.”</p><p>The teen raised a brow, snorted, and shook his head in disbelief. There was something almost amusing about how nonchalant the girls could be during these situations.</p><p>“do you girls have any idea what time it is, the sun’s not even up yet” Varian questioned in a stern but calm manner. He wanted the girls to know he was not mad at them; however, it would have been nice to be informed of their little home invasion.</p><p>“Well how are we supposed to know when your free, your schedule is so all over the place, we can never tell when your awake or when your asleep” Angry scoffed sarcastically.</p><p>Varian had to admit the younger sister had a point, like his workspace, his schedule was nothing but a cluttered mess. Ever since Varian became the Royal Engineer for Crona, he almost never seems to have time for himself.</p><p>Since Corona has never had a royal Engineer before, many people inside and out of the castle have been constantly asking for Varian’s services, like fixing ovens, fixing gates, or fixing wagons.</p><p>Varian does not mind of course since he has always loved using his skills to help others, but every day it always seems like a new problem occurs or something breaks, and Varian must come by and fix it.</p><p> It does not help that the trip from his home to the castle can be extremely long. Normally it only takes four hours to arrive at the castle, if you were on a horse, on foot it almost takes an entire day.</p><p>Varian’s sleep patterns do not help his situation either. Since Varian always fills his schedule with appointments and building projects, he always seems to forget to fit in sleep. Some days he would only get three hours and some days he would only sleep for five. Varian could not even count the number of times he simply passed out on a blueprint or a book he was reading. There was even one time he worked throughout the whole night, and by the time he woke up, it was night all over again.</p><p>“well how about next time you leave a notice for me a week before coming, that way I can be prepared for guests,” Varian said as he gestured to the group of children” does that sound fair.”</p><p>“I guess so, but if you ask me it takes the fun out of being sneaky” grumbled Angry. Even though she and her sister were more than happy to give up a life of being thieves, there would always be that part of her who would miss being able to sneak around behind people’s backs without being noticed or caught.</p><p>Varian chuckled a little towards the grumbling girl, but then his attention was caught by a young girl wearing a red bandana on her head “um excuse me Mr. Royal Engineer, Angry said that if we ran into you, you would make something explode for us.”</p><p>“Yeah, I paid two dollars and ninety-nine cents to see an explosion” a boy named Seth informed annoyingly.</p><p>Varian moved his sites to the sisters to give them an irritated scowl, and the sisters responded with an act of innocent side whistling.</p><p>“did you have to promise them THAT,” Varian asked putting his face in his hands, then he stopped and thought for a second “also what did you need the extra ninety-nine for” he questioned, thinking that two dollars should be enough for a small business tour?</p><p>“tax-exempt” Angry answered shrugging her shoulders.</p><p>Soon enough Varian and the girls were surrounded by groups of children ranting and raving about how they were promised cool explosions and that they would demand their money back if their requests were not met.</p><p>“Look, Look, everyone” Varian announced as he motioned his hands up and down in order to calm everyone in the room “I understand that Angry and Catalina promised you a big show of explosions, however in the world of Engineering, it’s not really seen as a good thing if something explodes, plus explosions can be very dangerous and I don’t have enough safety equipment for all of you, so I am sorry but there will be no explosions here today”</p><p>All the children in the room gave Varian disappointed awes and boos, with one girl even shouting, “rip off”. Varian felt a little melancholy towards the children, as he did not want them to leave disappointed, and then, an idea came to his head.</p><p>Varian turned to the children with excitement in his eyes “may be we can’t create any cool explosions, but if you let me, I believe, WITH THE POWER OF SCIENCE, I can show you something just as fun and the best part is you can all help me.”</p><p>Many of the children were disappointed by the fact that there were not going to be any explosions, especially since many of them brought their lesson books to destroy, but they decide to see what the engineer might have up his sleeve.</p><p>At some point, Varian made his way into the kitchen and brought back gelatin, sugar, light corn syrup, kosher salt, vanilla extract, cornstarch, measuring cups, spoons, and aprons.</p><p>Everyone was assigned to different missions, some in charge of measuring, some were busy taking turns stirring the ingredients, and some had the job of putting the ingredients into the bowl.</p><p>Some of the small children were on the floor with Ruddiger, petting him and fighting over who gets to hold him next.  Ruddiger did not enjoy having his hair pulled by an army of little hands, however, he decided to behave himself for Varian’s guests, but he knew Varian owed him a whole lot of apples.</p><p>After an hour of pouring and mixing Varian and his audience were finally done with their experiment. “Now once we cover the mixture with powder sugar, we need to cut it into squares, that way it’s easier to serve to your guest” Varian instructed as he cut up the concoction they were working on and handed it out to everyone “And that’s how we make marshmallows.”</p><p> The audience of children began to exit the Engineer’s lab satisfied and content. Sure, Marshmallows cannot create destruction and excitement like explosions, but at least they're soft and sweet.</p><p>Before taking his leave, the little girl Marigold decided to steal the tray of leftover Marshmallows, of course not before saying “thank you” to Varian, with her mouth completely stuffed with her fluffy treat.</p><p>As her audience began leaving the lab Angry called out to them “and do not forget everyone, next week we will be going over <strong><em>The Legend of the Shadow Witch" </em></strong>Angry announced in an eerily creepy, to let them know the sisters next tale was going to be filled with fear and despair.</p><p>Unfortunately for the Engineer, the sisters, and the raccoon, one child decided to remain. Calvin and all his glory pursed his lips and innocently began scanning the tables and desks.</p><p>Both Catalina and Angry looked ready to throw the boy out with their bare hands. Ruddigar who had placed himself on top of a desk, began hissing under his breath, as he too did not want anything to do with this bratty child.</p><p> Although Varian knew Calvin that the only reason Calvin was sticking around was to cause trouble, however, he did not want another fight to break out, so he thought the better option was to keep the peace.</p><p>“Is there anything you need Calvin or a question you would like to ask of me?” Varian asked as politely as he could.</p><p>Calvin regarded Varian with a look that was detached from all emotions, before going back to look at the table. Then like a surprising chill that runs down your spine, the boy began to speak.</p><p>“I have to admit <em>Engineer</em>, what you’re doing here is quite brave of you” Varian and his friends were a little off guard, after all, Calvin was probably one of the last people to give a compliment. Then he continued to speak “After all, I would be absolutely disgusted with myself if I began flaunting my criminal past like it was some heroic act.”</p><p>Varian stiffened at the comment, but he kept his posture.</p><p>Angry looked at Varian with soft eyes as she watches him for a quick second become unnerved by the boy’s comment.</p><p> Angry turned her sites to Calvin “you better watch it before I permanently change your vocal cords”.</p><p>“it's fine,” Calvin said with a hint of elegance in his voice “I was leaving anyway, and thank you again for the tour” and with that, the boy made his leave.</p><p>“Well, he's certainly a pleasant individual” Varian stated uncomfortably sarcastic.</p><p>Varian then felt a tug at his shirt and looked down to see Catalina giving him comforting eyes “don’t let him get to you Varian, I bet he’s just mad because his father got demoted.”</p><p>Oh yes, how could Varian forget Calvin’s father, Algos. Before Varian was placed with Andrew, Algos was his jailer, and how he lived to torment Varian. To Algos Varian was not a fourteen-year-old kid, but an ungrateful traitor, who was lower than dirt.  </p><p>Every morning Varian would wake up to the agonizing cold and mildew-filled water, that Algos would dump on him.</p><p>That was his preferred method of waking him up, it did not even matter if Varian was sick with the Flu, to Algos that was no excuse.</p><p> When it came time to give Varian his food Algos would <em>“accidentally” </em>drop his food on the floor, scoop it up with his bare hands, and told Varian to eat it.</p><p>During the first night, this happened Varian told Algos he would not the food that had been tainted with dirt, hair, and bugs. In response, Algos threw the plate at Varian and told him he was a scum who should be grateful for being feed at all.</p><p>After that incident Algos starved Varian for over a week, he even lied to the cooks that Varian was already fed for the night. Sometimes he would even eat his dinner in front of the starving teen.</p><p>During those times Algos would make threats to the teen, like threaten to lie to the king that the teen tried to harm him or his many threats of feeding Ruddiger to his Great Dane at home.</p><p>Despite all the terrible things Algos did to him, the man was not thrown in Jail or fired. The worst punishment that the King gave him, was to demote him to a desk job of keeping track of criminals’ history.</p><p>“Hey, don’t worry V” Varian's train of thought was abruptly stopped by Angry’s s voice “If those two ever give you any trouble, you just call on us” she explained as pulled her sister into a one-arm hug.</p><p>“I’m sure we could beat them in a fight” Catalina announced proudly, as she lifted her arm in triumph.</p><p>Varian gave the girls a small but. warm smile “speaking of fights” he noted as he walked over to one of his tables and started to pull a box out from underneath it.</p><p>The girls watch curiously, to see what Varian might be pulling out from the bottom of the table, however, this curiosity quickly turned to annoyance when the box had the words <em>first aid kit.</em></p><p>“Let’s see if we can patch up those cuts and bruises of yours,” Varian said as he gestured to the table.</p><p>“Don’t baby us” Angry pouted as she pursed her lips and crossed her arms “these are nothing, we’ve given worst cuts than these before.”</p><p>“Yeah, we’re fine” Catalina proclaimed as she walked over to Varian “so you don’t have to worr- “</p><p>Catalina nearly fell over as she felt a sting of pain coming from her leg. She had forgotten the terrible scrap on her knee, she received from her brawl with Calvin. Catalina winced with each breath as she kept herself from falling over.</p><p>Varian gazed at the two stubborn girls. His eyes became soft over the fact that they had conditioned themselves to not expect anyone to worry about them, but his eyes were also filled with understanding as he remembered during his time as a criminal no one cared if he was injured or hurt. So, he knew where they were coming from.</p><p>“Girls” Varian knelt down to be at the girls' eye level “you two are the toughest people I know, and I also know you two can take a couple of scrapes. However, I cannot just stand by and do nothing if someone I care about might be hurt, so please humor me.”</p><p>Ruddiger hopped on the table, chittered towards the girls as he gestured to them to get on top. To humor them he had managed to makeshift a paper nurse hat which he placed on top of his head.</p><p>Both girls mumbled under their breaths, even though they knew their friend was just concern for their wellbeing, it still annoyed them greatly.</p><p>The sisters spent years on the streets building up a mentality of being tough and fearless, showing any kind of weakness would have surely gotten them killed.</p><p>So, when their teenage friend looked at them with concerned eyes, sisters slumped their shoulders and sighed, there was no fighting it.</p><p>This was one of those times they had to swallow their pride and accept help from someone. So, the sisters climbed on top of the table so Varian could examine them.</p><p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^</p><p>“Ow” Angry winced “be careful V.”</p><p>“Sorry, I’m trying to be as gentle as possible” Varian explained as he continued to dab the cuts on Angry’s face with disinfectant.</p><p>Varian had to make a mental note to throw out the broken glass that Angry had fallen on top of, had he known about the Sisters’ visitors, he would have never left the box on the floor like that.</p><p>Luckily for both, the glass had only nicked her cheek two times, so no scars would be left behind.</p><p> Varian knew if the glass managed to poke her eye out or left a terrible scar, he would have never forgiven himself.</p><p>Catalina had already been treated, the scrapes on her hand and knee had been disinfected and bandaged up. She was now sitting next to her sister with a bag of ice on her bruised cheek.</p><p>“so, ah, I hear you two started school last week, how’s that going”? Varian asked. He knew he was starting a conversation that would end with his funeral, but he wanted to know how the sisters were adjusting to things.</p><p>The girls merely eyed Varian with seething irritation, proving to him that this was a topic they bitterly disliked.</p><p>“terribly, all we do is waste time learning facts and figures, when we should be using that time to raise more money with our storytelling business” Angry huffed with Catalina nodding in agreement.</p><p>“Come on, Learning can be fun, you don’t think I would be able to do all of my cool alchemic experiments unless I had someone to teach me, besides the last thing Lance would want is for you two to be worried about money” Varian explained.</p><p>“But we want to help”! Cataline interjected as she slammed the bag of ice on the table alarming her sister and two friends, the last thing she need was someone talking to her like she was some innocent child that needed codling. “It’s like he doesn’t trust us, we know he works hard just to try and support us, and he lies about it just so that we don’t worry.”</p><p>“That’s why we have to keep our storytelling business running,” Angry said, she kept rubbing her eye with her fist, to keep up her tough-girl persona. “After all, he was doing just fine before we came along.”</p><p>Ruddiger, who was resting on Varian’s shoulders, gave his human a concerned look. The teenager regarded his furry friend before looking back at the two girls with soft and understanding eyes.</p><p>“Now don’t say that,” Varian said gently, he had just finished applying disinfectant to Angry’s cheek and was now preparing to put a plaster on it. “Lance cares deeply for you two and I don’t think he would ever regret adopting you, you should talk to Lance about all this, it’s not good t-…to hide things from each other”</p><p>“What do you mean,” Catalina asked.</p><p>“Look take me and my dad, for example, all my life he keeps things from me as the rocks, the fact he was a knight, him having an animal like, warrior, siblings that tried to kill us that one time…”</p><p>“And your point”</p><p>“But after having a conversation with each other, we began to be more honest with each other, and now we don’t hold secrets from each other anymore.”</p><p>“Still waiting for that point.”</p><p>“My <em>point</em> is if you talk honestly with your Dad about how you feel, then in return, he will be more honest with you, honesty is how you build a stronger relationship, also going to school and doing well will help in showing your Dad that your mature enough to be trusted with more responsibilities, take it from me my Dad started trusting me a lot more when my inventions didn’t explode as much” Varian explained as he rubbed his neck sheepishly.  </p><p>The girls stared at the ground annoyingly but nodded their heads in agreement. When the lab had finally been swept and the girl’s cuts had been treated and cleaned, the girls said their goodbyes and left to go get ready for school.</p><p>As Varian began to head for the stairs to get ready for the day, a glint of light from the ground caught his attention. Varian followed the light’s path to a chunk of amber that had embedded the ground. Varian froze and held his breath as his eyes laid upon it. Like Varian’s own past, no matter how hard he tried he just could not remove the stain of it from the floor, so there it stayed as a constant reminder of what he had done.</p><p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^</p><p>“So, kid you seem bright and early this morning.”</p><p>Varian had finished his fifth yawn as he and Eugene were making their way through the halls of the castle. Varian acknowledged the Captain of the Guard with an embarrassed grin.</p><p>“Let’s just say I had some unexpected visitors this morning.”</p><p>   Ruddiger who was on Varian’s shoulder was barely keeping himself awake, he used every bit of energy he had to keep his failing eyelids open.</p><p>“Well after three months we’re finally able to get started with rebuilding the dungeons, we would have done it much sooner, but sunshine insisted that we started with the homes and the businesses first” Eugene stated.</p><p>“Well, the people of Corona do have to come first, besides even if we did start with the dungeons first it would not have mattered, since most of the criminals escaped during the Zan Tiri attack anyway” Varian commented.</p><p>“We sure lost a lot of them.”</p><p>The Engineer, the Captain, and the Raccoon turned their heads to the voice of Pete the guard. He and his partner Stan decided to accompany their Captain and the Royal Engineer to the meeting discussing the plans for the new dungeon.</p><p>“Now let’s see we lost the Stabbingtons, the Late-Night Bandits, Dwayne…again…., that lady who wouldn’t stop stealing people’s left socks, another bandit trying to steal the Princess’s crown, the Baron, the Sapor-”</p><p>The freckled guard’s words came to an abrupt halt, as the feeling of irritation began to creep up in the back of his head. He rubbed the irritated spot to help relieve the pain. At that moment he realized he had been slapped in the back of his head. As he looked around to see where the culprit was, he noticed his partner Stan had his hand raised. As the younger guard began to demand as to why his partner would do such a thing, Stan merely tilted his head to the direction in front of him as he cleared his voice to gain Pete’s attention.</p><p>At first, Pete was confused as to what his partner was referring to, but then when he looked straight ahead, a terrible realization began to take over as he finally realized what he had done.</p><p>Standing in front of the two guards was the royal Engineer, deadly still, with the only sound to come out was his light shaky breaths.</p><p>Varian stood completely silent and completely still, as he bit his lip. A bitter taste began to fill up his mouth as memories of green sadistic eyes took a hold of his very mind. Those eyes belonged to a man he once looked towards for kindness and support.</p><p>However, when the time came when the teen decided to no longer follow the man, the man tried to have him killed. At that moment, the teen realized that all of that “support” the man gave him was nothing more than manipulation to get Varian to work with him.</p><p> Now, thanks to Zan Tiri and the broken dungeon, the man was now free, and would most likely come back and finished the Varian once and for all.</p><p>“I think what Pete meant to saw was the… the…uh … Ivy spore…guy”?</p><p>“Who”</p><p>Stan glared at his partner as he bared his teeth “You know, the guy who eats poison ivy<em>.”</em></p><p>“Oh yeah and…then he started biting people because he believed he had the ability to control people’s itchy spores …. oh man, he was an interesting fello-”</p><p>“Guys you’re not helping” Eugene stated with an irritated glare “Varian are you ok.”</p><p>The teen blinked a few times as his train of thought had been interrupted, remembering where he was. He took a deep breath before looking back at the worried face of the Captain.</p><p>“I’m alright”, he said quietly “I mean if Andr-…if they wanted to do something to the kingdom, they would have done something by now.”</p><p>the Captain raised his eyes skeptically, the sweat on the teen’s face and the shakiness in his voice did not seem to calm the man’s suspicions.</p><p>“No, really I’m fine, really I am,” Varian said, motioning his hands up in down to emphasize his point. “Besides once I get started with my plans to remodel the dungeons, we’ll never have to worry about any criminals escaping ever again.”</p><p>“Tell me about it” Eugene snorted “you have to admit this place kind of sucks at keeping prisoners in their cells.”</p><p>Both Stan and Pete gasped defensively, but then sighed in defeat “yeah that’s fair.”</p><p>“I actually came up with some different ways to solve that in my blueprints” Varian announced enthusiastically “first I designed a brand-new lock system that is much stronger than the ones the Corona dungeon’s use, I also came up with a device that will trigger a loud alarm the minute a dungeon door is opened, I also came up with a-”</p><p>“Good morning your majesty,” Eugene said.</p><p>Varian's long science rant was soon interrupted by the entrance of a grey-haired man. The sleeves on his blue Landsknecht shirt were striped in gold, which was all held together by his long brown vest, brown pants, and around his neck wearing so proudly was a golden medallion shaped like the sun. As soon as he entered Varian, Stan and Pete greeted him with a waist bow.</p><p>Right next to him was his Royal Advisor Nigel, he regarded the two soldiers with a stern nodded, but acknowledged the teen with pure bitterness.</p><p>“Good morning Eugene, I see that you’re faring well, do you have anything to report to me this morning,” The King asked.</p><p>“Well to be honest for once a crime has been incredibly quiet lately” Eugene answered “I guess when people how we single-handedly took down the most powerful demon in Crona history,” Eugene said proudly.</p><p>“I still can’t believe she turned out to be real, let’s just hope our other legends don’t turn out to be real,” Stan said.</p><p>“Like the orange ape with the backward feet or the Shadow Witch”, Pete stated with a twinge of fear.</p><p>Varian watched patiently as all four men began discussing the well fair of the kingdom. The teen made a mental note of how the King tried his absolute best to avoid eye contact with the teen. Every time the King would accidentally glance at Varian, he would quickly turn his head as no one would notice, but Varian noticed, and he cringed uncomfortably every time.</p><p>“I was hoping your Majesty that we could be given the ok to start fixing the dungeons today,” Eugene asked.</p><p>“Well, I’m happy to hear that Crona is prospering so well, and even happier to accept your request” the King stated, “it will also be good to finally get a good night's sleep and not have to worry about the safety of my people.”</p><p>Varian bit his lip, he kept waiting for the right opportunity to bring up the plans for the redesign of the dungeon. Ever since the King had gotten his memories back, he made every effort he could to avoid the boy as much as possible. If the King needed a message sent to Varian, usually Eugene or Nigel, the advisor would do it. If there was ever an instance where the King needed to talk to Varian directly, they were always quick and to the point, and no unnecessary chatter.</p><p>“yo…your majesty if you’re worried about…. the alarm disturbing you, I can a-assure you that I won’t be installing it anywhere near your room, you see on my blueprints- “</p><p>“Yes, I’m aware of your designs for redesigning the dungeon” the King interrupted as he held out his hand “and while I find your plans….<em> Interesting,</em> I’m afraid I’ll have to decline and request that the Cronan’s dungeons remain the way they are.”</p><p>Varian looked down in disappointment, as he bit his tongue. In the past, if anyone would say no to one of his inventions, he would either keep trying to persuade them to see things his way, or he would go off and build them behind their backs in hopes that they would change their minds once they see the final project.</p><p>But that was in the past, nowadays Varian has now seen the true dangers his Inventions can cause, and if no one wanted to see them then he had to accept that.</p><p>Eugene and Ruddigar look at Varian with soft eyes, they knew how hard he worked on the plans for the new dungeon and it hurt to see his ideas be denied.</p><p>“with all due respect your majesty” Eugene began “I know Varian’s inventions in the past caused problems, but he’s learned to be more responsible- “</p><p> “try to understand Eugene I am not saying this to be mean” the King corrected “I just think that since the guards spend most of their days in the dungeons that they should be the ones to decided what changes are needed to be made, and besides, I would not want to distract Var- the <em>Royal Engineer</em> from his <em>real</em> duties”.</p><p>The king then motioned to Nigel. The pointed nose man, with a sneer plastered on his face, handed the Royal Engineer a small rolled-up scroll. When the teen opened the scroll, it quickly rolled down to Varian’s feet and did not stop until it stretched towards the King.</p><p>Varian quickly scanned the scroll; Miss Blumenthal’ flower cart needs a new wheel, Mr. Leroux wants a swing set built for his four daughters, Mr. Waller needs his well re-painted, Mr. Baum has a wobbly chair, and it just kept going the list was filled with endless requests from everyone in the kingdom.</p><p>“Now I know doing menial tasks like fixing tables and painting houses is not as interesting as inventing gadgets to wash clothes,” the King said sternly “but you work for the <em>kingdom now</em>, so much of your time is required to be spent on helping the people, I know your use to spend your days making things for your own enjoyment, but as the <em>Royal Engineer </em>the people’s needs must come <em>first</em>, do you <em>understand”. </em></p><p>Varian began to open his mouth in a feeble attempt to argue back. Oh, how he wanted nothing more than to try to convince the king to change his mind. That this time he had learned from his mistakes, and that this time he knew that his ideas would help the kingdom a lot.</p><p>But then Varian looked into the King’s deep eyes, at first glance they would seem almost normal, but to the careful eye, you could see the radiating feel of coldness and harshness staring down at the teen, in a way demanding that he agrees. So, Varian held his tongue to keep the words from falling out and nodded his head slowly.</p><p>“I’ll get right on it your Majesty.”</p><p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^</p><p>“Sorry Goggles, I know how hard you worked on those blueprints,” Eugene said sorrowfully, as he placed a hand on the teen’s back to comfort him. Then the guard snapped his fingers as an idea popped into his head. “Maybe we can ask Rapunzel to talk to him, I’m sure she can convince him to change his mind.”</p><p> Ruddier chittered in excitement and turned to Varian to accept the proposal, after all, it was Rapunzel who convinced her father to make him the Royal Engineer in the first place. But then he stopped when he saw the boy’s somber face.  </p><p>“No, it’s ok Eugene” Varian breathed “The King had a point, my time should be spent in service to the people, and anything else is just a…<em>distraction”.</em></p><p>“So, another failed attempt I see.”</p><p>The voice was vicious and cold, like a twisted dagger to his back. A voice the teen heard for many days and nights, a voice that dug its claws into the boy’s very soul.</p><p>Varian refused to look up, to stare into the dead eyes of the person in question. Of course, the choice might be out of his hands, as the person came closer with every heavy step, and only stopped when the Captain intervened in front.</p><p>The man known as Algos looked at the Captain with disinterest, the Captain’s attempts to shield the boy utterly disgusted him. However, when his sites came upon the boy, all that disgust melted away into sadistic pleasure. Watching this little maggot tremble at his very site, was like getting presents on a Christmas morning.</p><p>“Well, if I were you, I would see this as a <em>blessing</em>, after all, we wouldn’t want memories of your <em>old home</em> to begin stirring up would we” Algos hummed “then again if you ever get tired of playing <em>modeled citizen</em>, you can always go back-”</p><p>“don’t you have things you need to get back to <em>Algos?”</em> Eugene interrupted sternly.</p><p>Algos lifted an eyebrow, but then chuckled under his breath as he shook his head “of course Captain, it was good seeing the <em>both</em> of you again” and the man turned as he made his leave.</p><p>Eugene watched in disgust as the man walked away “you just say the word kid, and I’ll demote him so low he’ll be shoveling Maximus’s apple remains.”</p><p>The Engineer regard the Captain with a small smile “No it’s ok Eugene, I better get going I have a lot of things I need to get done.”</p><p>“ok” the Captain replied unassured “but if you need anything, just come find me.”</p><p>The Royal Engineer nodded his head, with a thank you, and made his way to begin helping the people of Corona.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Episode 1 Ready as I’ll Ever Be Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The reign of Zan Tiri has come to an end and It's Happily Ever After<br/>Varian as the new Royal Engineer has finally achieved his dreams of using his scientific knowledge to help his kingdom.<br/>Unfortunately, things might not be going exactly as he planned.<br/>However, Varian makes a vast discovery that will change his life forever<br/>Varian will embark on a journey filled with friendship, mystery, lost history, hidden secrets, betrayals, myths, adventure, magic, and science.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So for every season of this story, I decided to have a recurring theme for each one, the theme for this season is trust, trust in others, and trust in yourself.<br/>also, I decided I did not want this to be just Varian's story so each season will be a character focus on certain groups of characters at a time along with Varian, like with Ducktales or Teen Titans.<br/>so the character focus for this season will mostly be Varian, Hugo, Ulla, Donella, and Cyrus</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>                                                                                       Episode 1 Ready as I’ll Ever Be Part 2</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>    “Now just one more nail and…. done.”</p><p>Varian leaped off the stool he was standing on and stood proudly in front of his latest creation. In front of him was a yellow-painted metal cabinet with heavy glass sheets. Along the glass edges, stripes of red cushions were nailed to the metal. Placed on the very top was a red metal apple décor that said, “Attila’s Apple Tastiest.” </p><p>“What do you think Attila” Varian asked</p><p>Coming right next to Varian stood a large muscular man. The man was wearing a brown tunic with no sleeves, a dark-furred kilt, and covering his whole head was a bucket helmet with pointed horns.</p><p>“Oh, it’s great, it will be a perfect place to display all the different kinds of pastries I will be serving at tomorrow’s Sunrise Solstice.”</p><p> Attila had only asked for Varian to fix his cabinets on the scroll. However, when Varian mentioned he created a serum that helps make glass stronger, Attila insisted he wanted it for his shelves. One thing led to another, and eventually, Varian began redesigning his cabinets. To ensure no one got hurt if the cabinet fell, Varian installed cushioned brackets that would pop out before the cabinet hit the floor.</p><p>Varian looked at the cabinets with a feeling of pure happiness that began to bubble inside. The sense of bringing a new idea, a new creation to this world. Being able to tinker with nobs, tools, and chemicals, the feeling of knowing you managed to turn the ideas in your subconscious into a reality. When was the last time he felt this way?</p><p>He thought back, and, last time, the Princess allowed him to continue working on his water tanks. Regardless of knowing their destructive nature, the Princess allowed him to continue working on them, even allowing them to be built under the castle. He remembers the day he began setting them up and the curiosity and wonderment from the many faces of the castle staff interested in his work. He remembers being so thrilled, just the thought he was being given another, another opportunity to make things right and show the kingdom that he was good again.</p><p>However, one day, a loud crash echoed in the halls, and the castle began to rumble a bit. One of the tanks had exploded, no one was hurt, but the rumble did cause a few walls to crack. After that, the castle staff began to avoid him; faces that were once filled with child-like wonderment were now replaced by crippling fear and caution. The King decided at that moment that not only was Varian not allowed to work on the tanks anymore, but he could no longer work on anything at a large scale until he could prove he could keep his inventions under control.</p><p>After all, Varian should not be surprised. Was there ever a time his tanks ever worked. Varian breathing became quick and unsteady as memories began to flood his mind. What was he thinking? How could he be so irresponsible? How could he be so stupid? He should have known better; those tanks were unstable machines that could never work. Then again, when have his inventions ever worked.</p><p>Like when the princess asked him to build a fuel tank for her hot air balloon, sure the thrusters worked but he should of came up with stronger fabric for the balloon, She and Eugene were almost killed by ocean monsters because of his negligence. Then of course there was project obsidian, if only it did not malfunction then Cass and Zan tiri would never have taken over the kingdom.</p><p>Varian then looked up in fear as he looked towards the metal cabinets. What if this invention failed too? How could he let himself get carried away? Why didn’t he just fix the shelves like he supposed to? Why didn’t he listen? What if the brackets break and crush someone? What if the glass is not strong enough and it cuts someone? People will get hurt, People will get hurt, People will get hurt. Because of him, Because of him, Because of him. And what if-</p><p>“Varian are you listening.”</p><p> Varian was quickly brought back to reality as Attila put a hand on his shoulder. Varian took a much-needed breath. “No sorry I was…. daydreaming” he laughed awkwardly.</p><p>“Well, I was asking if you would not mind swing by tomorrow before the palooza and bring a bag of apples from your village, Shorty ransacked one of my boxes yesterday.”</p><p>“Uh, s-s-sure…I-I can do that no problem.”</p><p> Although no one could see it behind his helmet, Attila looks towards the Royal Engineer with much concern.  “Hey Varian, you ok, if it’s too much trouble I can always ask Lance to-” he asked.</p><p>“No” Varian interrupted with a shake in his voice, he then quickly steadies himself in order to no make a scene and draw more attention to himself “No, ah, it’s fine, no trouble at all I’ve to be more than happy to help, what kind of apples would you like me to bring tomorrow.”</p><p>“Why don’t you see for yourself,” Attila said with a light chuckle gesturing to one of his barrels next to the counter. Varian walked over to the closet one and opened it to see the apples inside.</p><p>“as you can see, I decided to dye the pastries purple and use golden delicious apples so that they match Crona’s national colors, I usually use honey crisps but since this is a special occasion I figured- “</p><p> “Oh no Ruddigar”</p><p>Attila walked over to the barrel to see what was upsetting Varian. There laid at the bottom was a furry little raccoon with an extended stomach. He took one last bite out of his current treat and threw it over his shoulder as a satisfied burp escaped his little mouth.</p><p>“those were the ones delivered this morning” Attila grumbled.</p><p>“So, I guess I’ll bring two bags tomorrow.”</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>"Ruddigar, you need to stop stealing other people's food; you're lucky Maximus wasn't around to witness that."</p><p>The small raccoon chittered "sorry" to the teen and looked away ashamed. Varian sigh and scratched his furry friend's ear, letting him know he was not angry with him.</p><p>Varian pulled out the scroll and crossed off Attila from the list. Usually, a feeling of relief would immediately come after knowing a job was finished; however, as the column of names continued to run down endlessly and everything around him began to grow black, the teen could only sense mockery from the world once more.</p><p>"I guess I'll have to finish the list tomorrow."</p><p>   Varian did not finish his assignments in time; he knew, sure enough, the King will be disappointed by this, as this was the sixth time it has happened this month. His legs became heavy as every step he took weighted down every time his feet touched the stone road. Were his legs tired from the day's work or was it just his mind tricking him into slowing himself down from ever reaching the castle. He knew the King would be disappointed because Varian never finished his assignments. He knew the King would go on a rant about how Varian did not care about the kingdom, but how could anyone finish the long list the King gave him every day? It is also like the King wanted Varian to fail. Of course, Varian could never say that. The last time he defied the King, he ended up in jail and almost committed genocide.</p><p>    From the corner of the teen's eyes, he could see shopkeepers unhooking signs and turning off lights to prepare to sleep until the following day. As the teen passed by Mrs. Aliker's House of Mirrors, he quickly noticed something unsettling. He quickly walked back to the mirror and inspected his entire face. Apart from some tiring bags and some dirt on his face, everything seemed normal. Then his eyes scanned his head, and there he saw the worst thing he could imagine. The metal rim around one of the lenses of his goggles had bent. As the teen removed the goggles, a sense of panic began to take over as he tried to think of how this could have happened. Varian knew that he could fix them deep down, but when did he have the time. He already knew he had to wake up at four tomorrow; he wanted to finish all the jobs he had assigned. He could not be selfish, but he had to get them fixed. After all, he promised her that he would take care of them.</p><p>  Ruddigar mentally panicked as he watched his human going through an inner turmoil. The tiny creature looked to see if there was a friendly face that could help Varian or at least calm him down.</p><p>   The critter chittered happily as he spotted true calm relief in his sites. The raccoon rubbed his head against the teen's face to get his attention. The teen looked up and saw that the raccoon was using his tail to point at something. The engineer followed Ruddigar's tail until he saw Xavier Schmidt's smith shop.   </p><p>   When Varian came to the shop, Xavier was busy putting away his supplies for the night. The Blacksmith was a dark-skinned man with a green shirt, brown pants, and a whitening beard. Varian bit his lip nervously. Ever since the treasure hunt for Herz der Sonne's tomb, Varian and Xavier had become good friends. Sometimes Varian would come to Xavier's shop to ask him to fix any tools he had, and in return, Xavier would share all the different fables and myths he knew.</p><p>However, the teen was still nervous about asking him for help; after all, the Sunrise Solstice was a busy time for the Blacksmith. As Varian's eyes looked down at the bent rim, he decided to have the courage to ask.</p><p>"Hello Xaves" Varian greeted</p><p>Xavier stopped in the middle of his work when he noticed the striped, blue lad in front of him. A warm smile appeared on his face as he greeted the boy. "Well, hello, Varian"</p><p>Varian did not respond; it was as if his voice had disappeared entirely.</p><p>The Blacksmith noticed that the lad was nervous about something, judging from how the lad's fingers rubbed against his goggles' rims. Then the Blacksmith saw the bent rim.</p><p>"I see that the rim is bent; if you like, I would be more than happy to fix them," Xavier said in a reassuring voice.</p><p>"Yes, if you could, no, sorry, I mean if it's not too much trouble."</p><p>"Varian, It's no trouble at all."</p><p>Varian handed Xavier the goggles, and the Blacksmith went to work preparing to heat the rim's metal. The Blacksmith began inspecting the googles, the scratched lenses, the worn-out leather, and the bits of rust from the edges; these specs had to be at least four decades old.</p><p>"Just from a professional opinion," The Blacksmith began, "but it's not a good idea to have worn out safety equipment; these goggles have seen better days, I'm afraid."</p><p>  "I know, but I'm afraid I would never part with them; they belonged to someone very special."</p><p> "Say no more," Xavier reassured with a wink in his eye "there are many things, I too, keep from people who are special to me, so Varian are you planning to come to the Sunrise Solstice tomorrow."</p><p>"no, I'm afraid not, I still have too many jobs still left to do by tomorrow morning, I still have to fix Mr. Mole's squeaking door hinges, Mr sharp needs his bookshelf repaired; also, Felspar thinks magical elves are fixing his shoes in the middle of the night and he wants me to build a trap for them because he does not want any competition."</p><p>"That's a shame; after all, the Sunrise Solstice is probably the most important event in Corona; after all, it's the day we celebrate the defeat of the first Saporian Separatist….um you don't mind if I."</p><p>Varian could tell by Xavier's eager face he wanted nothing more than to tell Varian another legend. The older man was as anxious as a child wanting to open presents on a Christmas morning. There was once a time that Varian would have gotten annoyed by the Blacksmith's long tales, but now he had come to love them dearly.</p><p>"Of course, Xavier I would love to hear the story," Varian said.</p><p>The older man's cheeks became rosy with delight; of all the tales he told, the Sunrise Solstice's origin was one of his absolute favorites, and he could not think of anyone better to tell the story to than the young engineer.</p><p>"After years of fighting between Crona and Saporia, the war had finally ended with the marriage of Herz der Sonne and Shampanier. The kingdoms rejoiced, knowing that now there would finally be peace, and they never had to fight again. Unfortunately, one individual did not celebrate; instead, they were filled with burning rage".</p><p>"<strong>Mela Skia</strong>, or as you know her as the <strong><em>Shadow Witch</em></strong>. She was a being that could manipulate the shadows and bend them into horrific forms. Mela Skia despised Crona, and to her, Shampanier was nothing more than a traitor to her people. One night Mela Skia snuck into Crona's dungeons and released the prisoners. She told everyone in the cells that the Cronan king had <strong><em>poisoned</em></strong> their queen and that if they did not do something soon, then their once might <strong><em>culture would be forgotten from history and closed off forever</em></strong>".</p><p> "Together, they stormed the castle calling themselves the Separatists of Saporia, and attacked King Herz der Sonne. Queen Shampanier heard the cries of her beloved husband, but by the time she reached him, Mela Skia had slain the king".</p><p>"At first, Shampanier tried to reason with the witch to ask her to step down as Shampanier <strong><em>would never abandon the Saporian people, and King Herz der Sonne loved Saporia and only wanted what was best for them</em></strong>. However, Mela Skia only laughed a wicked laugh. She told the queen that unlike her Mela Skia's loyalty would <strong><em>always</em></strong> be to the Saporian people and not to Crona and that the Saporian people <strong><em>did not need</em></strong> Shampanier".</p><p>  "Knowing that she had to protect her kingdom, Shampanier used a magical weapon to turn the Shadow Witch into stone, defeating her. However, despite winning the battle, the weapon Shampanier used was so powerful it destroyed her body, and she died alongside her husband. Since Shampanier and Herz der Sonne did not bare any children, the throne was succeeded by Herz der Sonne's niece Cecilia. As her first act as queen, Cecilia declared that every year the kingdom would celebrate the defeat of Mela Skia and Crona's first battle against the Separatists".</p><p>  "You know," Varian interrupted. "I don't think there's a single legend you've told me that does not involve some accident evil trying to destroy Corona."</p><p>"Well, Corona was the third kingdom ever to be created, so It makes sense why so many Individuals would want to destroy us."</p><p>"The third, who was the first and the second."</p><p>"The first was Saporia, but when Crona and Saporia united, the castle was soon abandoned, and the second was the kingdom of Calibur, but I'm afraid that kingdom was destroyed centuries ago."</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>After an hour of melting and molding the metal, Xavier had finally finished fixing the rim of the goggles. Varian gave the blacksmith a grateful thank you and began studying every inch of the blacksmith's handy work. Varian had to agree with the blacksmith; compared to the spares Varian kept around his lab, these goggles were ancient and probably only had four more years left. However, that did not matter to Varian; these goggles were far more valuable than anyone could ever understand, and one way or another, Varian would always find a way to save them.</p><p>"Are you sure you don't want to go to the festival tomorrow lad, I assure you you'll have a good time," Xavier said, trying to get the lad's attention. "Maybe you can ask the princess for the day off; I'm sure she will if you want to go."</p><p>Then teen thought about what the older man said. The thing was, Crona's festivals and events never seemed to interest the teen. During Varian's youth days, he would mostly spend his time fiddling away at the latest invention or experimenting with different serums.</p><p> </p><p>Sometimes he would mark down his calendar to remind him when certain events were, but time would always seem to get away from him. The teen did participate in the science expo, but he only attended to impress Cassandra if he had to be honest with himself.</p><p> </p><p>A feeling of guilt began to take over as Varian thought back to when he decided not to attend Eugene's birthday. Sure, helping to translate the scroll was important, but maybe he should have attended. It was not always like this; up until Varian was five, he loved the lanterns' lighting during the princess's birthday or watching the gopher grab. He remembers how anxious he was, how he could hardly sleep, or how he waited by the calendar hoping that time would magically go faster and the next day would be another festival. But that was before…</p><p>"No, I couldn't do that Xaves, my job as the royal engineer takes a lot of my time; besides, I could never ask Rapunzel for something like that." His voice was uneasy, as if every word he spoke was a form of blasphemy.</p><p> </p><p>Xavier widened his eyes in surprise as he washed his hands against a hand towel. Why would the lad be so nervous about asking the princess for such a simple request? It was not unusual to ask the royal family for a day off for weddings or birthdays. Xavier remembered that all the castle staff the day off on the queen's birthday last year, as the king declar-.</p><p>  </p><p>Then the blacksmith remembered the king. Maybe that is why the lad refuses to talk to the princess; after all, it is no surprise that the king is highly protective of his daughter and would do anything to protect her. Xavier remembered right after the princess's abduction, and in possession of magic were to be questioned thoroughly, and anyone who refused was thrown out or imprisoned. The blacksmith's eye's trailed off to the side and landed upon his book of potions and artifacts entitled, Ekwa. The blacksmith remembered how he had to hide the book in fear of the Cronan guard's confiscating it and destroying it.</p><p>Xavier then thought back to the day the king and queen had regained their memories. Varian was in the blacksmith's shop at the time, telling the older man about his experience in the lost realm. The blacksmith at the time was helping to evacuate as many Cronan citizens as he could, so he was not there when the princess and her friends stormed the castle and built the portal. The lad was right at the part about his hair turning into a snake when the princess came running up to him.</p><p> The princess's face was filled with a mix of relief and joy. She enthusiastically explained that before her friend Cassandra left, she asked the ex-handmaid to send her owl to retrieve an object for her. This object in question was a small blue Saporian book, which she had gripped in her hands. She explained the book was the same one that was used to help cure her amnesia she had back during her road trip, she was not sure if it was still there, but the ex-handmaid's owl managed to retrieve it from their broken caravan.</p><p> She ran up to the lad and showed him the book with much excitement. Many citizens started to gather around, asking if the boy could return the king and queen's memories with the book. The princess helped settle down the crowd and announced that Varian would be right away with creating the cure for her parents' memory loss. Much rejoicing was felt from the group as they were excited to have things go right back to normal. However, while the crowd and the princess were busy celebrating the king and queen's return, they overlooked the color drain from the young engineer's face, his breathing becoming stressfully fast, and the once bright eyes of his now filling with dread and fear.</p><p>  The return of the king's memories would explain the shift in the lad's personality. Before, the boy was witty, laughing all the time, and always greeted people with a smile on his face; he was quiet, apologetic, and did not always look people in the eye. It probably hurt the king's pride not to send the lad back to jail, so of course, he would do whatever in his power to make the boy's life a lot harder.</p><p> "Varian" the blacksmith said in a soft and gentle voice, "I don't think you should be afraid to-"</p><p>"I Am Not Afraid," Varian said, accidentally raising his voice "sorry… I mean, I'm not afraid to ask the princess to let me off for the day; it's just that she's busy with her princess duties."</p><p>"Well don't you two spend time together when you're not busy with your jobs," Xavier asked.</p><p>"not really. I only see Repunzel when she needs me to make something for her…not that there is anything wrong with that. I mean, we're both terribly busy people," the lad said with his hands up defensively as if trying to avoid defending anyone around.</p><p> "well, what about Eugene? Don't you two discuss anything after work." The blacksmith asked curiously.</p><p>"no, not really," the lad explained, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "I only really see him when discussing military matters, plus I'm sure my alchemy talks bore him a lot," the boy laughed.</p><p>The blacksmith eyed the lad with concerning eyes, not liking where this conversation was going. "what about any of the teens in Old Corona? Do you ever talk to them about anything?"</p><p>The teen's eyes widened as he finally realized what this was leading to, a topic of conversation he knew too well, a conversation he had with his father too many times to count. Before the blacksmith could say another word, the engineer strapped his goggles to his head and grabbed his raccoon companion. The raccoon shrieked a little as the boy had woken him from a very sound nap.</p><p>"well, Xaves, this was nice, but…a…I just got tired all of a sudden," the boy proceeds to make fake yaw in hopes of tricking the blacksmith. "I mean just, tired suddenly, well I guess talking can really make you sleepy, so thank you again for… fixing… my goggles, but I better get going."</p><p> The lad then quickly walked away from the elderly man as fast as possible. The lad made it halfway when he heard the man calling out to him. The teen stopped in his tracks; every inch of his body was screaming at him to keep going, to keep running, to keep running away from the problem like he always did.</p><p>However, when the teen heard the cry of a concerned "please," the boy felt disgusted with himself. When he turned around, he could see the sadness radiating off the older man's face as he looked at the teen with sorrowful eyes.</p><p>The teen looked down at his feet in guilt; every time the engineer would look at the man to say something, he would quickly look back down again. He either did not know what to say or was ashamed of what he was trying to say.</p><p>"look Xaves" the teens turned his head away in pain, trying to muster up the courage to talk "I'm-I'm good at a lot of things Alchemy, building machines, sketching, playing the piano, translating; languages…. when the Princess, Eugene, and Cassandra became my friends, they first came to me to help them with Rapunzel's magic hair."</p><p>The teen then looked down at the furry companion in his arms, who in return looked at his human with soft and concerning eyes "when I became friends with Ruddigar he came to me” Without making eye contact, the teen then gave a weak gesture towards the older man “when I became friends with you, you came to me after the princess chose you to be my partner.”</p><p>The blacksmith felt disheartened as he watched every word the teen was saying becoming harder and harder “when I became friends with Lance, he came to me to fix a chair in his room; when I became friends with Catalina and Angry, they came to me to fix a swing in their treehouse."</p><p>The teen sniffed and shut his eyes hard a couple of times as if trying to prevent tears from falling out "<em>they always came to me</em>" he places a hand on his chest, gesturing to himself, "<em>I never came to them, </em>because talking to people, trying to make friends with them, and hoping that they actually care enough to listen, <em>I'm not good at that</em>."</p><p>the engineer then took a heavy breath. "<em>I've never been good at that</em>," he said in a soft voice.</p><p> As Varian began to leave Xavier spoke to him again.</p><p>"Please at least consider coming tomorrow; it's never too late to meet new people, who you can relate to and who can come to understand you and care about you; you are a good kid lad."</p><p>The teen gave the blacksmith one last watery nod before walking back to the castle and then heading home...</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p> </p><p>On the other side of the kingdom, a little mouse was scurrying through the streets, ducking behind boxes and barrels every time someone passed by. The mouse had to avoid any attention to herself, for she was no ordinary looking mouse. Her small body made of bright copper; her legs were small tubes that could stretch and extend and keeping her alive were the screws and gears that were endlessly rotating.</p><p>She spent all day monitoring the local blacksmith very closely. Studying the Blacksmith’s morning routine, watching him work, and waiting until he fell asleep. When all was quiet the mouse took the opportunity to scavenge through the man’s workspace. She moved aside vials and lifted tools to see what was under them. She climbed up a shelf and there she spotted what she was looking for. The large red-leather book with the name <em>Ekwa</em> stitched to the spine<em>.</em></p><p>She scurried through the kingdom until she reached the <em>Althea Forrest.</em> She reached the end of her journey, as what stood before her, were two cloaked individuals sitting near a campfire. The smaller one noticed her presence as he walked over to her, kneeled, and extended his hand so that she could climb onto his palm.</p><p>“There’s my little lady,” the smaller one said with a smirk and a laugh “did you find what we were looking for.”</p><p>The little mouse began tapping on the smaller one’s hand in morse code. The other cloaked figure, who was much larger in size with a muscular built, walked over to his companions to listen to the mouse’s code. The mouse went into detail about where the book was and the Blacksmith’s daily routine. The smaller one rubbed his finger under the mouse’s chin, a sign of appreciation to show that he was proud of her.</p><p>“Olivia says the blacksmith keeps the book on the first shelf in his shop.” The smaller one informed.</p><p>The muscular one scratched his bearded- chin and hummed quietly to himself, “if what the boss is telling us is true, then that book is the same one that created the mood potion that almost caused a war between Pittsford and Crona about a year ago.”</p><p> “What the heck is mood potion,” the smaller one asked.</p><p>“Boss calls it a form of lost magic if that’s the case,” the muscular breathed as he shrugged his shoulders “then we’re looking at a magic book over a thousand years old.”</p><p>“Then why don’t we just take it.” The smaller one suggested, “I’m sure if we sneak in, we can take it with no problem.”</p><p>“<em>There is a problem</em>,” the muscular one sternly corrected “tomorrow Crona will be having one of its festivities, the king always makes sure the guards are doubled for such an event, as well as two nights before and two nights after, no we’ll have to lay low until the end of the week.”</p><p>“So, if Crona owned a thousand-year-old potion book, then why haven’t we stolen from here before, isn’t stealing potions like our…<em>thing</em>.”</p><p>The muscular one walked back to the camp he and the smaller one set up and began playing around with a wooden spoon that was resting against a metal pot cooking some vegetable soup on top of a burning campfire. “I don’t think the Blacksmith acquired such an item within Crona; he most likely found it outside the Kingdom.”</p><p>The muscular one grabbed the wooden spoon, tasted the soup, and then poured it into a wooden bowl before continuing.</p><p> “you may not believe it, but Corona is not the most welcoming place for science or magic; the citizens are pretty simplistic and old-fashioned, they do have science expos every year, but to be honest, they treat it more like a circus show.”</p><p>“Ha,” the smaller one laughed as he laid his arms behind his head, “sounds like a pretty boring kingdom to me.”</p><p>The muscular one raised his eyebrow and smirked before continuing, “If it’s of any interest to you, the kingdom did appoint its first royal engineer and get this, he’s only <em>15.”</em></p><p>“What” the smaller one shouted in disbelief. “you’ve got to be joking.”</p><p>the muscular one laughed, clearly enjoying how much this was annoying his companion “a year younger than you, and he already has a position of power, I guess you’re not the only science prodigy around here”?</p><p>“Ha, I hardly doubt it; I bet this kingdom is so tone-deaf they’ve probably never seen a real scientist before.”</p><p>“Ah, you’re probably right; that kid is treated more like a handyman than an engineer.” The muscular one agreed as he took another sip of his soup.</p><p>“Still,” the smaller one thought aloud, “I wonder what kind of guy this alchemist is like”?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So I think you already know who the cloaked figures are.</p><p>So I made it canon that Varian will sometimes have panic attacks after Inventing something, in fear of it hurting someone.<br/>What's also canon is that after the king regained his memories he was not at all happy about Varian being free. So to ensure Varian never has time to build something as destructive as the automatons, the king fills Varian's schedule to the brim with minor tasks from the citizens, that way he can keep Varian right where he wants him.</p><p> </p><p>constructive criticism is always welcomed thank you.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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